Due to environmental and regulatory concerns, there is a need for water-based systems to manufacture polymeric coatings. Typically, polyepoxy resins and their polyamine curative agents (or resultant products) have had relatively limited solubility in water or mixed water/solvent systems, giving rise to multi-phase reactions and application systems. To overcome this, surfactants are commonly employed to provide a more continuous phase. Illustrative examples of polyepoxy resin coatings prepared in water and non-water based systems can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,830 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,109.
Frequently, high levels of surfactant are required. Use of surfactants in multi-phase systems, especially at higher levels, has the disadvantage of reducing performance and stability of the resultant polymers by adversely impacting film properties such as gas permeability, hardness, gloss, abrasion resistance, imperviousness to water, and the like. Moreover, coalescence of the reactants caused by the general nature of surfactant based systems, may, as the system dries, give rise to surface irregularities which also influence coating performance, such as arcing in electrical-coating-based applications.
Therefore, what is needed is a water-based system to manufacture polymeric coatings which generally does not require surfactants, although such surfactants may be utilized. The invention herein described is directed to these and other important ends.